Khattar takes dig at Haryana Congress' organisational structure, 'infighting' among leaders

At his party's 'panna pramukh sammelan', Khattar hailed the BJP’s “strong party structure” from the national and state level right down to the grassroots.

Taking a dig at the Congress, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said the party has not been able to set up a full party structure in the state for years and claimed that there was infighting in the party.

Addressing a party event in Faridabad that followed a cleanliness drive, Khattar also targeted the opposition's I.N.D.I.A bloc, saying it did not have a face or an ideology.

At the party's 'panna pramukh sammelan', Khattar hailed the BJP’s “strong party structure” from the national and state level right down to the grassroots.

The chief minister said despite being formed before Independence, the Congress has not been able to fix its organisational structure in Haryana.

“What is the situation of the party? In Haryana, they have not been able to set up their organisational structure. In past years, they made a state chief but failed to set up an organisational structure. Now, their state unit has a third chief (in the past nine years) but even today they don't have the courage to set up a party structure,” he said.

Khattar also claimed that there was infighting in the Haryana unit of Congress. 'Now, they are saying they will do an experiment to have a working president at the district level along with the district president... Because their leaders are fighting they should forget that they will have an organisation at the grassroot level,' Khattar said.

Former chief minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda recently denied any infighting within the state Congress unit. To a question if any issues of infighting were found when AICC coordinators and state coordinators held talks with party workers and leaders for feedback on the restructuring of the state unit, Hooda said, “There is no groupism. The Congress is united.”

The entire process to establish a complete organisational structure in the state unit of the Congress party will be completed in the next five to six months, Deepak Babaria, the All India Congress Committee in-charge of Haryana, had said in August.

Notably, for the last few years, the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee has been functioning without a complete organisational structure at the block and district level.

Khattar said that during the past nine years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a stable government with development in all spheres.

People still remember the corruption and favouritism that was prevalent during the previous Congress-led UPA's time, he said.

Khattar said the reason Congress has joined hands with some other outfits and formed the I.N.D.I.A bloc is because the party knows that it cannot challenge the Modi government on its own.

'No one knows who their leader is, what their ideology is, or what their programme is. They have one programme though which is ‘Modi Bhagao Programme’ (Remove Modi Programme). But they are mistaken as the government led by Prime Minister Modi will return to power,' he said.

He added that the BJP government in Haryana will also return to power in the upcoming assembly polls.

Several opposition parties have formed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Without naming any opposition leaders, Khattar said, 'These leaders used to say so many things about Ram Janambhoomi, now they have started to go to temples in Ayodhya and have started talking about gau bhakti (cow devotion).'

Khattar also highlighted welfare and developmental schemes of the state government, and added that his government has zero tolerance towards corruption.

Earlier, speaking at the 'Swachhata Hi Seva' event, Khattar highlighted the significance of collective responsibility towards cleanliness.

A cleanliness drive was held in response to the prime minister's appeal for 'shramdaan' (voluntary labour) a day before Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti.

Khattar said that cleanliness should not be solely the responsibility of sanitation workers but must evolve into a people's campaign.

'We will have to pledge to run a collective campaign for the cleanliness of our residence, premises, as well as our streets, localities, and villages,' the chief minister said.

'We have to make cleanliness a part of our life, behaviour, and daily routine,” he said, urging citizens to consider the entire country as their home.